


Perfect

by CalamityCrystal



Category: Mystic Messenger
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28329642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalamityCrystal/pseuds/CalamityCrystal
Summary: It's Christmas Eve. Saeyoung and MC have plans. They do not go just according to keikaku.
Relationships: 707 | Choi Luciel/Main Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays! This is kind of a wild ride. I wrote it for an MM Secret Santa back in 2018, and didn't hear a word on it from the person I wrote it for. I can't say for sure, but it looked like they dipped out in the middle of that event and didn't even give their own person something. 
> 
> *shrug* Ah well. 
> 
> It's probably the longest complete mm fic I have written though. And it's bothered me a bit that it was likely ignored by the intended recipient after I spent the time I did making it. So I'll post it here. It's not the best or most serious MM fic you'll ever read, but it's a ride and I hope people like it. 
> 
> It's a 707 x MC Christmas fic set after the secret endings.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. This far out, the dazzling array of stars twinkling overhead was clearly visible. It was the perfect spot. Saeyoung had scouted it out long beforehand. Sometimes he would take a drive out to this place when he wanted to get away from everything and get some fresh air. The ‘everything’ in most scenarios was usually Vanderwood pressuring him with work.

Looking to the smiling woman out here beside him filled Saeyoung with relief. That kind of life truly was over. He had a real second chance. It had all happened in just the blink of an eye, everything ever taken from him returned and more. He still couldn’t quite believe that this was going to be his first Christmas spent together with a family; the first in so long where he wasn’t hiding away from anyone.

In a way it felt almost out of place, but not in a bad way. This was warm, this was right, this was exactly what had been missing from his life all those years prior.

“It’s starting soon, right Saeyoung?” His wife took a few steps forward, excitedly glancing around at the open sky.

“In ten minutes.” Saeyoung answered. He could barely contain his own anticipation. A meteor shower would make this first Christmas Eve together truly special, as if the stars themselves were congratulating the two. From this lonely hill they would be able to see it clearly.

MC went and sat herself right on the edge of the hill, turning back expectantly to Saeyoung. He complied and sat next to her, hugging her close to him. There was a chill in the air tonight and she had gone out without bringing a jacket of her own. Saeyoung continuously offered his over, but she refused each time. He would just have to keep her warm himself then.

She smiled and leaned into the embrace. He was as stubborn as she was, but his advantage was that his comforting hold held more sway over her than the offer of a coat alone did.

And so, snuggled next to each other the couple waited. Saeyoung babbled off some facts about the event to pass the time and MC listened intently. She had never actually seen a meteor shower before. Despite Saeyoung admitting there might not be too many meteors to really see, the anticipation was electric.

MC shot up from her spot as the first star darted across the sky. “Is that it?!!” She questioned excitedly, glancing from her partner to the sky quickly as not to miss a thing. Before he could even get to his own feet several more stars followed, bigger and brighter than the first.

“It’s happening!” She was practically bouncing on her toes. Saeyoung took her hand to ensure she wouldn’t tumble down the hill, standing at the edge as she was. His eyes caught the stars with awe as well. Slowly, he affirmed, “Yes, it’s happening.” But this… was far more like a meteor storm than a shower. He had never seen one like it.

The sky became awash in brilliant darting flames, and the two stood awestruck by the spectacle. This was more amazing than either of them had been expecting. They pressed their hands tighter together, each convinced that this was turning out to be a perfect Christmas Eve.

And then, in an instant, as though someone had smashed right through their sparkling snowglobe of serenity, that perfection shattered.

It happened too fast for either of them to properly react.

Suddenly one of those shooting stars was heading right towards them, and as Saeyoung grabbed ahold of MC to get away, a blast struck the area, obscuring everything in a misty blue smoke. Everything looked ablur. MC screamed as something yanked her from the other direction, managing to wrench her away from Saeyoung - a small feat in itself, considering his own strength and training - and he stumbled through the haze towards the sound of her voice.

Disoriented by the smoke, he hadn’t realized how close to the edge of the hill he was and ended up tumbling down the side of it. It wasn’t a very distant or rough fall though, so he was able to recover quickly enough. Above, some saucer-shaped craft was flying away, MC’s cries growing distant with it.

Saeyoung blinked.

He blinked again.

He removed his glasses, wiped them with a cloth from his pocket, and looked again at the receding shape.

His wife. Had just gotten taken. By a UFO. One of those sci-fi-esque alien ships.

That had just happened.

Saeyoung just stood in shocked silence for a moment or two before the more obvious finally clicked into place in his mind. He still had a lot of enemies out there from his previous jobs. This was someone’s revenge plot. He shouldn’t have been so comfortable with the idea that he was away from all of that now. Somehow they had found out about MC. And now they _had_ MC.

Springing into action, Saeyoung rushed back towards where he’d parked. He still liked to keep at least one laptop with him nowadays, so if he could manage to hack a satellite somewhere nearby he should be able to –

He jumped backward as his phone buzzed in his pocket, half expecting that something else was attacking before he realized what was happening. It was probably a notification from the messenger. He had forgotten to turn his phone off earlier. But that was fine. He should inform the rest of the RFA of what was going on too in case he might need their help.

He leapt into the chatroom to find some kind of an argument going on.

ZEN: Jumin you bastard Yoosung is dying where IS this place?  
Jumin Han: Where are you at?  
ZEN: We’re at the damn mall you said to go to!  
Jumin Han: The one with the red Christmas tree out front?  
ZEN: Yes! It’s! Wait. When you said red did you mean the lights?  
Jumin Han: No I meant the tree.  
Yoosung⋆ : This is it… my final hour… I can see the light beyond the abyss...Zen take down my will.  
Jaehee Kang: Stop being dramatic.  
Saeyoung: GUYS! SOMETHING RL BAD JUST HAPPENED MC WAS KIDNAPPED BY A UFO THING I THINK NA ANEMY OF MIEN WAS BHIND IT GOING TO TRY TRACKING THEM I”LL KEEP YOU POSTED!  
Jumin Han: Saeyoung wait! Hold on.  
Saeyoung: ?  
Jumin Han: A UFO, you said?  
ZEN: Wait WHAT did you say you let happen to MC?? SHE’S BEEN KIDNAPPED???  
Jaehee Kang: We don’t have all the information. Let’s first calm down.  
Saeyoung: Yeah, I’m gonna try to track whatever it was now.  
Jumin Han: C&R received reports earlier of a strange craft hovering around the area. Let me take care of this, we may have more information on the matter. They won’t get far.

Saeyoung stared at the phone, a flash of anger coursing up in the midst of his panic. Let Jumin handle it? He trusted Jumin, but would that really be faster at this point?

Saeyoung: I’ve got it.  
Jumin Han: I insist, we will find her. In the meantime, could you run an errand for me.  
Saeyoung: My wife is missing and you want me running errands?!  
Jumin Han: Please trust me. If it seems our own lead will not yield results I will immediately turn this back to you. As it stands, however, we need more supplies for the charity event tomorrow evening and the two that have been sent out have failed.  
ZEN: HEY. Oh great CEO-IN-LINE, you gave us the WRONG LOCATION!  
Jumin Han: I gave you the right one. You did not follow instructions.  
Saeyoung: You want me to meet up with them?  
Jumin Han: I want you to go to the right shopping center. You know the one in town with the red Christmas tree out front? White lights? It’s fairly new and owned by C&R. They’ll be open late tonight. I’ll send a list directly to you of what we’ll need.  
Saeyoung: OK.

His mind was racing in double overdrive while his whole body stood on pins and needles. Jumin having a lead was better than nothing at least, but if he didn’t hear positive word back in at least forty five minutes he was ditching the errand running and finding that craft on his own.

Jumin called Seven the moment he managed to find parking at the shopping center. He informed the anxious redhead that they had someone in pursuit of the mysterious aircraft and that the situation should be handled soon. He said this as though he wanted to calm Saeyoung down, but the fact that Jumin had someone pursuing the kidnappers made him all the more nervous. He’d seen with his own eyes the way people changed when they were cornered. If they thought they may be caught, who knows what they’d do to MC.

He didn’t want to think about that.

With a deep sigh he stepped from his car.

He would trust Jumin. He’d give it another hour and a half at most.

Saeyoung didn’t even notice that time slide by. He was well into the bustle of the shopping center, bags of party supplies dangling from his arms as he headed to a different shop to get the next item. Even for all the skill he had attained over the years it was a bit hard to weave through the crowded complex. So many people were taking full advantage of the chance to pick things up at the very last second before the holiday - a task RFA should have had taken care of. Why were they gathering decorations so late?

That question had puzzled Saeyoung since receiving the errand, but it was nowhere near atop his list of worries. It was about time that he contacted Jumin to see if there were any new developments. Surely there would be something by now, right? He pulled out his phone, half dreading that they hadn’t contacted him because the news wasn’t good and they didn’t know how to break it to him. Just as he was about to enter the RFA messenger, a cry broke through the crowd that grabbed his attention.

“SAEYOUNG!” He glanced in the direction of his name, and noted how the crowd was quickly parting with little startled noises as the one responsible drew near.

The first thing Saeyoung noted was the empty shopping cart speeding towards him. Normally security would probably keep someone from stealing a cart from one of the shops, but this place was far too packed. They probably didn’t even notice it missing. The person on the other end of this renegade shopping cart brought it to a halt just before it could ram into him. He was bundled up in a dark coat with little snowflake patterns on it, hood up so that others noticed his face less, and he was gasping for breath. “Saeyoung!”

Clearly something was wrong. “What’s wrong, Zen? Any other word about MC?”

“Get in the cart.” Was all that he replied.

This was another of those moments where the former informant could only manage a confused blink. So Zen repeated himself, louder. “Get in the cart! We can still catch them!”

What? Were the ones that took MC here? At this shopping mall?

“Saeyoung GET IN!”

Zen obviously had some sort of a plan with this, so Saeyoung went with it, hopping in the shopping cart. Zen swiftly wheeled it around and ran them back through the crowd, shouting at the same time for people to move out of the way for them.

Saeyoung focused his attention ahead, certain that he’d see whatever they were after soon enough. As they continued to rush along, Zen brushed roughly past a display of lit candles as someone dashed out of his way, causing one to fly into the cart and ignite a bag full of confetti on Saeyoung’s arm.

He flailed, calling out for Zen to slow down so he could take care of it before his clothes caught fire too. “NO TIME!” Zen shouted back. He reached forward, tore the flaming sack off his friend’s arm, and threw it backwards. That probably was not the best idea. But someone would stomp it out later.

Apparently whoever they were chasing wasn’t as good at navigating the crowd with a shopping cart as Zen was, because eventually the two spotted them up ahead, attempting but not making as much headway at pushing past people with their own cart. Zen pushed faster, catching the attention of the person ahead who looked back in a panic.

That wasn’t anyone Saeyoung could say he recognized, but they certainly were shady enough to have committed a kidnapping, clad in a long trenchcoat and fedora with dark sunglasses.

Zen was rushing forward full speed, nearly toppling people over as the person ahead of them was as he attempted to move faster. As the gap began to close Zen gave the cart a forceful push forward and let it go, yelling out to Saeyoung. “GRAB HIM!”

Saeyoung was already leaping from the cart. Several witnesses gasped as he tackled the strange man from behind and wrestled him to the ground. That man’s cart continued rolling forward. Zen was making a run for it to grab the person captive inside of it, but someone else happened to snatch them first. Yet another trenchcoat wearing man had leapt from the crowd and grabbed the passenger. He quickly moved himself back behind some people before screaming out, “EVERYBODY! THE MUSICAL ACTOR ZEN IS OVER THERE BY THAT RED HEAD! THE ONE IN THAT BLACK COAT!”

Several people had formed a circle around this little incident and their faces were awash in confusion and concern. Were these people just playing with carts in the store? Should they get security? No one really knew. But at that odd man’s words several faces shot over to Zen, and as they saw those wisps of silvery hair beneath his hood and those sparkling red eyes, recognition flared within them. The screaming started, loud and intense; the fangirl squealing that Zen found both flattering and a bit embarrassing.

The actor’s eyes widened. As his fans closed in, the route to get to the kidnapper was going to be blocked for sure. He’d get away. This was bad. This was very bad. There was only one thing to do.

Zen hopped up on a nearby display cart, throwing his coat off as he did, and then pointed to the escaping kidnapper that Saeyoung was already in hot pursuit of. He didn’t know if his voice would be heard over the din all around him, but he had to try. And so, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out as loudly as he could. “IF YOU ALL CAN CATCH THAT ESCAPING MAN WE WILL HAVE A CHRISTMAS EVE CONCERT! I WILL BE SINGING A FEW SONGS FROM MY RECENT MUSICAL PERFORMANCES, BUT, ONLY IF THAT STRANGE MAN IS CAUGHT! GO EVERYONE! GO!”

Somehow, his words carried true and the excited group that had gathered dispersed to catch their prey. Loud grunting sounded from beneath their feet, but went ignored. The man that had been tackled down earlier was left to be trampled. And no one paid him another thought.

Zen was pleased at how well that went. Jaehee really hadn’t been kidding when she said there would be a lot of fans out tonight. A few stores in the area were selling merch from his latest show super last minute. According to Jaehee, it would be a real scramble for most of them. It always surprised Zen just how many fans he saw out for this kind of thing. He didn’t think he was quite that well known, despite Jaehee’s insistence of his undeniable popularity.

Zen followed the chaos. It wasn’t long until he heard victorious cries rising from among the horde. With so many people giving chase, there was no way the kidnapper wouldn’t be stuck fast with no escape. Zen started weaving toward the center of the crowd, attempting to reach the source of noise elevation. It was there that he would find the target.

At least. That is what he had thought.

The cheering began to push back towards him, and people parted way for a few dragging a man along by his legs. Two fans were situated on his chest, one there just to keep him down, one pinning his arms above his head while a person walked behind them tied his hands. He coughed violently, face red as he tried to rasp out words to these people between spasms.

Zen stepped forward in time to hear the one word he could get out and acknowledge it in that same moment. “Wr..Onn..g.”

Panic swept over Zen as he shooed the crazed fans off of his friend. They must have mistook the person he was referring to when he instructed that they catch an oddly dressed person. Considering Saeyoung’s attire he couldn’t exactly blame them, but hell. This was too much. Zen certainly didn’t tell them to injure their target.

This was not going to plan at all.

Saeyoung was still sputtering and shaking as Zen got him untied and helped him to his feet. He clung onto Zen, pointing to a nearby water fountain. Zen led him there, with fans following, confused and angry. They caught the guy Zen wanted, right? Was this not him? Were they still getting their concert? Was Zen noticing them? Were they allowed a piece of his hair? Well, that part didn’t matter. They were taking it one way or the other if they could get close enough.

They wouldn’t get that chance, however, as Zen stepped forward to address everyone while Saeyoung doctored his injuries at the fountain. “It seems there was a mistake. Did anyone see which way the person running in front of my friend went?” He raised his voice a bit. It was only going to reach the closest people anyway. There wasn’t anything he could jump on to call to everyone right now.

As it was revealed that they harmed one of their idol’s friends, several of the nearby fans gasped and quickly spilled out apologies. And while that was all well and good, Zen didn’t need that. He needed to know where the kidnapper was. He imagined that once he’d given the order to capture, many of the group would have also broken off to block exits. So it was unlikely that the man escaped. This meant he had to have run into another store to hide out.

That was the hope, anyway.

After some anxious conversing among themselves, one person stepped forward to reveal that the kidnapper had run into a clothing store just a bit farther ahead. Zen thanked them, promising that a concert was still happening in order to calm the crowd enough to avoid being harassed further. Hopefully. He and Saeyoung would deal with this now that he had a bit of a handle on the fan situation, provided the other was alright.

Zen glanced over his shoulder to see the redhead in question returning from the fountain, still rubbing water over the redness over his face. “Will you be okay?” Saeyoung nodded. So Zen asked again. “Are you sure?” Another nod. Zen’s concerned gaze told Saeyoung that he didn’t buy it. Zen knew him well enough to know that he’d fake feeling fine just to continue their mission.

And so he tried his voice again. It came now, but still in a horse rasp. “I’m fine. Just a little pepper spray.” He’d recover soon enough, luckily. He didn’t get too much of a blast from it, but it did stun him when he had suddenly been shot in the face with it from behind. That whole ambush by those fans had been quite the surprise. Frustrating as the outcome was, Zen’s tactic hadn’t been bad at least. If they had attacked the right person this fiasco would’ve been over by now.

Zen still seemed a bit unsure, but hearing Saeyoung speak without coughing put him somewhat more at ease. “Come on. The guy went this way!”

The clothing store had three stories, item racks so close together that more than one person was barely able to fit between them at a time, and packed with last-minute christmas shoppers struggling to get ahold of what they wanted before another person could snatch it away from them. It was chaos. It was the perfect hiding place.

Zen didn’t even know where to begin with this. He turned to ask what Saeyoung thought, but his friend was not beside him as he just had been. Fortunately, it did not take long to find him. And this was yet another turn of events where the actor found his mouth falling open in disbelief.

Saeyoung had climbed up onto one of the clothing racks and was hopping from rack to rack, over a sea of people below, haphazardly heading deeper into the store and leaving all his fucks by the door.

Zen might not know where to begin looking, but to Saeyoung it was obvious. There was nowhere to hide in this kind of a packed crowd. Outside the store, despite a number of people walking around, it was still possible to maneuver. In here, it would legitimately be a challenge. Their disadvantage was that the mistake with those fans had given the kidnapper time to wade through with his victim.

But if he wasn’t still wandering in the chaotic mass, there was only one place that they could have gone. The changing rooms. It was a place nearly impossible to enter in a rush like this. There were likely some on each level, but likely, they had gone to level 3. It would be the hardest to reach.

Spotting the stairs to the upper floors, Saeyoung headed that way, continuing to leap around atop the clothing racks. He heard some surprised gasps and remarks as he made his way along, but most people were too engrossed in their own objectives to notice him. Well, that’s how it seemed. He was just closing in on the stairs when something grabbed his foot and yanked, causing him to crash to the floor.

This was the second time tonight that Saeyoung had been brought down, but he was fairly certain he was not about to be shot in the face with pepper spray again, so that was a positive. He picked himself up to find a very disheveled employee glaring at him.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Do you think this is a playground or something?”

There was no way Saeyoung could explain his situation to this guy. But their encounter was fortunate. He needed an employee anyways, he’d just wanted to get closer first. Now that one had arrived at him, however, he might as well enact his plan.

The store employee did not at all expect for Saeyoung to answer him with a swift knock to the jaw. He was out fast, and to Saeyoung’s relief, everyone else was still too caught up in what they were doing to realize that he had just knocked someone out. Good. He grabbed the man’s work vest and put it on, donning the temporary alias the attached nametag provided. With this, he could access the changing rooms easily without question or hindrance from shoppers.

He was close enough to the stairs that it didn’t take him much longer to make his way to the third floor. Once there, he hopped up onto a clothing rack to make his way through the same way as before. However, before he could get moving, a loud, ringing alarm sounded. The frazzled customers in the store all stopped what they were doing and looked about, confused and murmuring to each other for a few moments. Quickly though, they began to rush out of the store with other, more conscious employees, helping them along.

These people were running for their lives, pushing others and anything in their way over. Saeyoung’s clothing rack also fell victim to the shoving, and he once again found himself on the floor. Before he had the chance to get up he was trampled on by a few of the fleeing people, and shortly afterwards he felt a different clothing rack fall onto his back. That’s just the kind of night it was, huh?

A small child crawled out of the newly downed clothing rack and kicked Saeyoung in the head. There were tears in the child’s eyes, their plan to hide from their parents for the duration of this boring shopping trip within the racks of clothes clearly foiled by this redhead that everything was falling on top of. “YOU RUINED IT!” They cried at him before rushing off down the stairs with everyone else.

Rather than walking around the fallen rack of clothes, several ran over it, once again trampling Saeyoung while he was down.

When the 3rd floor started to become emptier, Saeyoung was finally able to get out from under the clothing rack. He was a little bruised, but otherwise fine. With the path to his goal far clearer now, he ran towards the changing rooms.

It seemed everyone had evacuated the area. Saeyoung walked along throwing open stall doors left and right to see if the kidnapper remained. As he went on, he heard a faint noise coming from a stall just ahead and sprinted towards it, adrenaline coursing through him. That had to be them. This was it. He was going to get to the bottom of what the heck was going on here.  
Saeyoung slammed open the door of that stall, expecting to find MC and her kidnapper.

But instead he found...Yoosung.

The boy was laying sprawled on the bench at the back of the stall, mumbling to himself. As Saeyoung drew closer he could make out a bit of what the boy was saying. “Can’t believe he ditched me. Oh they need me back _there_ , they’ll come find you. I’m dying Zen why did you do this…”

“Yoosung? Are you okay?”

Yoosung turned his head slowly and stared at Saeyoung for a long moment. “You came back. Commmeeon we gotta. We gotta stall them a little longer.”

“What are you talking about?”

Yoosung blinked, then closed his eyes. “Where’s Zeeeeeen?”

Saeyoung didn’t have time for this nonsense. He reached out and put a hand to the other’s head. Suspicions confirmed, Yoosung was deep into some fever-induced haze. “Can you walk?”

Yoosung rolled over and fell off the bench. He lay there, face down, unresponsive.

What in the hell was even happening anymore?

Saeyoung picked up Yoosung and started walking away with him. So he was the one in that cart earlier. Things were happening so fast that Saeyoung hadn’t even noticed. He had been too focused on taking down that strange person first. Zen must’ve been pushing Yoosung around since he had that fever, but why was he kidnapped too? Were these enemies just after all members of RFA? Why did they leave Yoosung behind? Did the alarm actually spook them? Was it for some other reason? Was MC left behind whoknowswhere in the middle of the night then?

There were too many questions and hardly any answers. He was going to need to contact Jumin as soon as possible. All this time and there had been no actual update on MC’s situation since this had not been her.

“SAEYOUNG!” Zen ran up to his friend as he descended the stairs to the first floor. The store had almost completely emptied out. That alarm ringing seemed even louder now, and there were announcements playing throughout the entire complex telling people to evacuate as quickly as they could. “Come on, we have to go! We have to go _now_.”

“What’s happening?”

Zen pointed beyond the store’s entrance.

A moderately sized wall of flames was spreading farther down the way, dark smoke blanketing the ceiling and spreading all over the store.

As it turns out, no one did stomp out that confetti fire. Several didn’t notice it with everything else going on, and the ones that did avoided it. It’s fire. Who would dare to trifle with the all-consuming flames? Not any of these people, that’s for sure. And so it grew, and began to spread. And it was Saeyoung and Zen’s fault.

 **Shit**.

Yep they certainly _did_ have to go now.

An exit was nearby, but it was blocked. This wasn’t because the area was too congested with people to get through, no. It was because despite being told by the mall staff and security that finally decided to exist to evacuate, they stubbornly insisted that they would not miss the Zen concert that was going to go on.

And so, in order to get out of the mall, Zen had to tell everyone gathered at the exit that if they followed him outside and a safe distance away, he would indeed perform as promised. He would need Saeyoung’s help with this though. The other didn’t seem too keen on the idea. He was frustrated with the whole ordeal and wanted word on MC as soon as possible. But this was their only way out and Zen couldn’t just go back on his word to these people.

A little over half an hour later, with some help from Saeyoung and a few of the fans, Zen had a decent little mic and speaker setup that would at least be enough to get the job he needed done. They had all gathered in a deserted parking lot a little ways off from the burning shopping mall. Boxes with heavy items in them stacked together that also belonged to some of the fans acted as a makeshift stage. This wasn’t the image at all that Zen had in mind when he offered a concert to those mallgoers, but it would work.

And so, his mini-concert began.

Saeyoung stood anxiously off to the side as Zen performed. Jumin wasn’t answering his texts. Yoosung was dead in the backseat of his car. Well, he was dead asleep with that fever, anyway. He didn’t want to wait any longer, but he should wait to see if Zen could get a response from anyone when he finished here. If not, then there might be even more to worry about. He sighed and put his phone away.

How had tonight slipped from amazing to hellish so fast?

He turned his head to glance back at Zen, but something caught his eye. Someone in the crowd. He strode over and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped.

“Oh, Saeyoung. You startled me.”

“What are you doing here, Jaehee?”

“I’d never miss one of Zen’s shows.”

How did she know about this though? Did he send her a text? She sure had gotten here fast if he had, not that Saeyoung expected any less from Jaehee. Still. This might’ve been a bit too fast.

She had to know why Jumin was offline as well though, so Saeyoung tried to launch into her with questions, but she silenced him. “It’s rude to talk during a performance.”

Saeyoung was going to protest, but seeing as she didn’t seem especially worried, maybe Jumin was just in the middle of handling things and the situation turned out alright. Zen’s little show shouldn’t be too long. He would wait then.

The show was amazing. Despite the loud sound of emergency vehicle sirens in the distance, the crowd went wild, and for a while it seemed as though there wasn’t some other crisis that needed attending to. The little concert truly made the night for some people, while others - one other, particularly - remained wracked with anxiety. It took some time to get the fans to disperse after the show. Jaehee ended up having to help shoo people off and convince them not to hound Zen for an autograph since they had the opportunity.

Saeyoung was finally able to properly talk to Jaehee as she and Zen finally came away from the departing group to meet by his car.

“Ah, yes, I’ve just been waiting for Mr. Han’s -" As if on cue her phone’s text notification went off, and sure enough it was from Jumin. “Here it is. Alright. Come with me.” She took a few steps forward before stopping and turning to Zen. “Could you please bring Yoosung?”

Zen had almost forgotten for a moment that Yoosung was dying in Saeyoung’s car. Poor Yoosung. No one had expected he would come down with such a fever when he came out tonight. Zen had found him some medicine while the two were wandering alone together, but it didn’t seem to be very quickly taking effect.

Zen nodded a confirmation to Jaehee and went into Saeyoung’s car to see if he could rouse the other.

No luck. Seemed he was going to have to carry the boy.

Saeyoung couldn’t get Jaehee to elaborate on what Jumin had said. She had become much quieter and refused to meet his eye as she led the guys along. Had something happened? Was it the kind of situation where the news was so bad that she wanted Jumin to give it himself? Considering the kind of night it had been so far, Saeyoung couldn’t help his mind from racing to the worst conclusions. He should have just handled things himself from the start.

It didn’t take long to reach their destination from where they were at. Curiously, it happened to be the building they had set up as their Christmas charity event venue. Were they simply meeting here because it was closer?

It was dark inside the building, dark and all too quiet. As they reached the doors to the party hall Jaehee turned. “Mr. Han has instructed me to warn you that you might not be prepared for this, Saeyoung.” There was a somber note to her voice that set Saeyoung completely on edge. He steeled himself for whatever tragedy lay in the room as Jaehee turned back to open the door.

Oddly, there were no lights on in this room. It was just as dark, darker maybe, than the hall.

As the group stepped through, suddenly the space was lit up in a dazzling array of twinkling holiday lights that decorated the ceiling, prominent colors being white and green. The chandelier in the center of the room was decorated to look like a spaceship and sported more colorful blinking lights. Along the walls, which had been covered in dark wallpaper, were glowing star and planet decorations with the odd Christmas tree or ornament thrown in here and there to float out in space with them. Tables were scattered around the room and covered with rocket-ship print table cloths.

“SURPRISE!”

Out of nowhere and dressed in a silly green alien costume bounded MC, giggling as she rushed to Saeyoung. “Welcome to the Alien Abduction: Christmas in Space party!!!”

Saeyoung just stood staring dumbstruck at her as his mind wrapped around this. She was here, she was fine. Looking around the room a bit more, Jumin stood at the back, calm as can be, adjusting the Christmas themed cat-ear headband he was wearing. Near him was a snack table and sitting in a chair at the other end with a pint of ice cream in hand and clad in a dark trenchcoat was his brother. There was a dark wig laying on the nearest spare table to him, likely from Saeyoung’s cosplay inventory. Next to him was a bodyguard of Jumin’s in a similar outfit.

Everything started to click into place. And then, slowly, the words came. “This whole thing… was a setup?”

“Well, it was because-”

Saeyoung grabbed MC and squeezed her tightly to himself, nearly shaking with relief that everything was alright. “Don’t you have any idea how worried I was?!”

After a few beats of silence, quietly, she answered. “I’m sorry.” His grip on her eased, and she leaned back to look into his eyes. “You’re usually the one that makes all the surprises and sends people on fun little quests. I just… wanted to be able to do that for you too. The others told me how you used to spend Christmas before… holed up all alone in your house until the end of it.” She paused to glance around the room, and then back at him. “I thought, it would be nice for you to spend one together with everyone. So we planned a surprise party, and a rescue quest with Yoosung and Zen to keep you occupied until everything was set up. But it. Didn’t go quite to plan…”

Jumin stepped forward now. “Quite. The mall catching fire was far from anticipated. However, I would like to inform everyone that it was contained and all injuries were minor at most.” Still, if people wanted to get noisy about it that could be a bit of an issue for Jumin, but not one that couldn't be swiftly handled, he figured.

“Sorry.” Zen offered. “I had a few slipups happen back there.”

“I figured as much might happen.” Jumin replied, going back to mess with those festive cat ears again. Just weren’t straight...

“What do you mean you figured as much?!” Zen demanded. “You didn’t think I could pull this off?”

Jumin shrugged. “I figured you would end up telling Saeyoung what was going on. But kudos for managing to keep the secret, I guess.”

“Listen here you smug bastard-” Jaehee stepped in front of Zen to intervene before he could continue.

“Let’s not forget why we’re here. This is a party. We should focus on having fun together.”

Zen had to relent to that. They really shouldn’t be fighting right now. They all put so much effort into this for their friends. And though he was loathe to admit it, Jumin did play a fairly big part. Thanks to him they had free reign mostly to do whatever in that mall, and his alien spaceship helicopter was pretty damn good. He could get back at the guy later.

Instead his focus shifted to the boy still held in his arms. “It’s too bad Yoosung hasn’t gotten any better. I guess he really will have to miss out.”

Not a beat went by before Yoosung’s eyes suddenly snapped open. “Oh, I started to feel better back in Saeyoung’s car. I just didn’t want to walk.”

Yoosung. That poor boy. That poor sick college boy. How tragic it was when such a boy was roughly dropped to the ground.

“Zeeeeeeen how could you I’m sick!”

“So, is this alright?” MC asked Saeyoung.

He stared at her for a long moment and then pulled her into a close embrace once again. “Of course it is, it’s amazing. Just don’t scare me so much next time, alright?”

“Alright.” She smiled at him, her sincerity clearly showing in her eyes. Smiling back, Saeyoung leaned in and kissed her.

When they broke off she grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the back of the room. “Come on! I got some fun party games ready for us!”

As they began the party, there was one thing they all knew they could agree on together.

This Christmas Eve was perfect.


End file.
